Smiling Jack
= 'Smiling Jack' Bolton = (Artist Rendition) Name: Jacob 'Smiling Jack' Bolton: Species: Human(?) Age: Unknown "Any man, woman, or child preventing me from sitting on the council is committing mutiny! The love of my country ALONE should be reason enough to let me pass." -Smiling Jack, after being put into forced retirement. "Terror ensures loyalty! Let's give fear ITSELF something to run from!" -One of Smiling Jack's oft-repeated lines. Smiling Jack, as he's often called, is an oddity even among the militaristic state of Osbourne. Blindly patriotic and with a very conflicting past, Jack Bolton's official history is so full of contradictory statements that most people would assume he was simply some mythical figure made for propaganga purposes. His past seems to reach back somewhat earlier than the Ekris War, where he rose to power through the army's ranks. According to official history, he received a wound which may have disfigured or scarred his face and irreparably damaged his left eye..Instead of receiving treatment or surgery, like any normal person, he reportedly forced a spare gasmask onto his face and headed back up, ready to lead his troops back into battle. To this way, he has never removed the cracked, slightly rusted mask, and not a single soul from his younger days remains to attest as to what he actually looked like. Out of his sheer tenacity and the desperation of the monarchy in finding a successor to their previous right-hand man, he was eventually nominated by the last King as a war hero with enough prestige to ascend to Archduke General. During that time, he helped lead Osbourne in some of the worst conflicts of the war, tending to spend quite a lot of his time writing long, inspirational and often inflammatory speeches to motivate his beloved country's army into fighting to the last. His tactics during this time eventually became lauded as works of unorthodox insanity and phyrric brilliance. In short, he is convinced that through ridiculous and risky assaults, he can claim ground on the battlefield so long as there are enough soldiers willing to die under his command. His fanaticism is partly the reason why Osbourne remains so patriotic and supportive towards its army and government. In light of this, he later appeared on many posters related to the Osbourne army recruitment campaigns, his imposing gasmask clad face staring down and pointing to the viewer, creating a quite noticable air of sternness where ever they were posted. Once Caitlyn Holt was nominated for Archduchess General, the people realized Smiling Jack's time in the limelight had come to an end, and keeping such a troublesome figure in a position political power would have an effect on stability, The government eventually, despite his rather vocal objections, forced him into retirement. As he objected further to this treatment, he felt as if he were an aging relic swept aside when not needed, but he refused to let go of that slight for the better half of several years after. The situation became difficult to manage, and with reccomendations from Archduchess Holt, the royal family reluctantly returned him to council meeting after Bolton's famous declaration that any council without him was comitting high treason and mutiny against the crown, even if the crown itself hosted the meetings itself..Smiling Jack has yet to actually believe that he was ever stripped of his post, and actively refuses to speak about these events himself, so his current opinion is unknown. It is also told that despite the arguments and troubles the pair had in the past, Jack Bolton and Caitlyn Holt remain rather good friends, seeing eachother as two sides of the same coin, with Holt being the calm and collected leader and Smiling Jack as the passionate and unflinching one.